


Compare and Contrast

by SerpentineFxrtune



Series: The Six [3]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Culture, Alien Flora & Fauna, Alien technology but humans aren't allowed to use it, Broken Promises, Fainting, Flashbacks, I don't ship Ace and Mira though, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Incarceration, Major Original Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Nobles that aren't kept in the loop of things, Original Character(s), Other, Scholarly analysis of characters that actually exist within the fiction, Shun's terrifying perception, This is based very loosely on the episode where Ace mock drowns, and also the bakugan are basically imprisoned at large, and he gets captured by the vexos as a result, because I'm more than happy to get meta when it comes to the vestals, referenced hydrostasis, rule breaking to get your friend back, that one just kinda happened, vocal impressions that are surprisingly good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27221638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineFxrtune/pseuds/SerpentineFxrtune
Summary: Brett Cleos joins the Resistance, and his first mission, albeit self-imposed due to a then lack of a leader, goes down the drain pretty quickly.
Series: The Six [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986178
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Compare and Contrast

**Author's Note:**

> Brett is essentially a love child between Ace, Dan and Volt- he's basically a haos Dan, who has ego to throw around, and joins the resistance on a whim, but is very much a family oriented guy. Mylene has heard of self-care, but likes to have an excuse to yell at the guards (sometimes the other Vexos) on why she actually can have a portion of her day off, thank you.

Of all escalations, Brett’s escalation from a prominent brawler in Alpha city (with very little presence outside the city walls), to a member of the Resistance was... strange, to say the least.

Any brawler within Alpha's city walls could tell you that, when Brett began battling, after researching as much as he could about the story of the battle brawlers for flavour, it was for money. His family were a little on the poorer side of Alpha's economics (to be fair, they had to be earning enough to viably move to another planet,) and so Brett was more than happy to send the money he won off to his family.

It didn't take long before his research of the battle brawlers took over, and he got the rather protagonistic urge to be the strongest there could be (in terms of brawling, of course; the research he'd done pointed towards Shun being so physically strong that it was hard to actually believe in his existence.) 

And then, curiously, he dropped that fantasy, seemingly against character, to become part of the Resistance, although no one in Alpha could tell you that. They'd just say he was on hiatus, or missing. Inevitably, Ace didn’t trust him. At all.

* * *

_The battle came to a standstill. The tag team battle, Brett and Odette, against Shun (probably just stage-named after the mythological Shun Kazami) and Ace, was tense. Guardia, a feline vanguard bakugan with a diamond-tipped, whip-like tail, and matching ear-ringed streamers on her helmet, landed on the ground with a thump. Standing up fully, Guardia leaned forward and hissed loudly, threatening the cause of her minor loss of Gs._

_Percival backed off a little, a little more than aware of how far Guardia’s streamers could reach. Ingram was slowly healing the scars on his left shin from Guardia’s ripping streamers nicking him. Unintended, and painful, but at least gave them a feel for how Guardia fought- reckless because it was actually viable._

_But it was clear that the battle had to end someday. Engelos, a tiny, angelic bakugan, used a self-sacrificial ability to deal with Percival, leading to a rather frenzied skirmish, where Ingram eventually over powered Guardia._ _Flight seemed to be the biggest saving grace Ingram had- Guardia could only really leap into the air to try and attack him, and her ability to connect an attack was waning._

 _Once the battle was over, Guardia was no longer Brett’s. He’d gone right up to Shun after the battle to request Guardia back._ _“Look, I know this is weird, and against the rules, but can I have Guardia back?” Brett sheepishly asked, Odette hiding behind him a little. Shun looked at him curiously, **with such strange looking eyes (they were shadowed under his hood and they didn't glow as a result! That was weird!)** , almost about to say no._

_Then, Engelos took over for the sake of persuasion, “He takes good care of her, as she does with him,” she chirped from Odette’s shoulder._

_While Odette scrambled to make sure no one else heard Engelos speak, Shun looked amazedly at the white bakugan. Nodding, immediately convinced, **how strange** , Shun took Guardia out of his pocket. Guardia, without prodding, leapt from Shun’s hand to Brett’s, mewling happily to be back with her partner._

_“Be careful, and take good care of each other!” Shun’s Ingram yelled quietly from his left shoulder. Guardia trilled in agreement, and shut herself, vibrating joyously. Not ten minutes later, Guardia opened back up, checking that the coast was clear of people._

_“Hey, maybe you should talk to them after the tournament!” Guardia trilled, sat lazily on Brett’s shoulder. If she was sat any lazier, she would’ve fallen right into his left vest pocket._

_“Ehh… Not my business, Guardi-“ Brett waved her suggestion off, before being cut off._

_“They’re working on freeing us bakugan. And that was no vestal.”_

_Brett, and Odette froze. Brett’s interest suddenly peaked as he registered what Guardia had said. This is the exact same thing that the battle brawlers did, right? They freed the bakugan! Ok, it was from under Naga, and not… well, given they’re **the Resistance** , he supposed that the bakugan were captured by the Vexos, since they came to Vestroia first… but it was nigh the same! _ _He elected to ignore the fact that he might currently be on the enemy’s side though, since he isn’t quite part of the Resistance._

_Wait... that was no vestal? Then did Brett just fight-- In that case, where was Skyress?_

_“Freeing? You guys… You guys aren’t free?” Odette asked quietly, completely confused. Brett, broken from his train of thought by Odette's inquiry, plucked Guardia off of his shoulder, staring at her in his palm._

_“We all got captured before Alpha landed. Then we got distributed, remember? You found me in that freebie box.”_ _Brett blinked at Guardia's words, and then remembered. He saw Guardia’s shut ball form shuddering in the cold, and he took immediate pity on her. He guessed he was really emotionally driven, for a vestal._

_“So, are you suggesting that criminal was actually..." Brett gasped, remembering the previous month's terror. People called it- no, them- a ghost, others a vengeful idiot, and Brett seemed to think it was Shun, but disguised. Given Shun's impressive list of achievements, it made more sense than Brett liked to admit._

_"I hope so! He's really nice!" Guardia mewled. Brett did see Shun handling Guardia after she swapped ownership; he was very gentle, from what Brett could've seen._

_"...Ok. I’ll see if I can join them." Brett turned to Odette, "Do you want to join in?”_

_“I don’t think I can,” Odette sighed, “My family doesn’t really let me go anywhere, after all. I **do** want to, though.”_

_“If and when you’re allowed to go places, promise you’ll try to get in contact?” Brett requested, holding out his pinkie._ _Odette took off her mask, and promised him, as Gloria. Promised him as herself._

_"Definitely. I should probably run before they clock that I’m not at home. See ya!” Gloria ran off, mask back on her face._

* * *

With half the Resistance off on Earth, and Ace emotionally unstable without Mira to ground him (pun unintentional), it was up to Brett to pilot the transforming base; no one bothered to teach the humans how to steer the thing.

Guardia sat faithfully on Brett’s shoulder, keeping watch of the three other bakugan, all sat on the top of the backrest. Elfin was chatty, Ingram was happily humouring her, and Percival occasionally joined in, although he was more interested in watching Brett work- apparently, he was much more relaxed than any of the other Resistance members who were actually allowed to pilot the base. Brett realised he hadn’t actually gotten to know Baron, Dan, or Mira for very long. It made sense- they’d disappeared to Earth a few days prior. He just hoped they could get back, and could do so unharmed.

Seeing them oscillate between dimensions like the disembodied voice explained Runo was doing- Runo called the voice Aelia, someone Brett recognised as part of Vestal’s cultural mythology (surrounding the game of bakugan, at least.) It wasn’t clear if she was added in later in addendums, or if she was inserted by some vestal who wanted an excuse to write themselves amongst their heroes, but Brett guessed she was in fact real. There were scholarly discussions on whether Aelia was gundalian instead of human, given her traits are notably weird, implied through pieces of dialog. Brett liked the idea that she was (a reason to not dislike the warmongering gundalians), but liked the idea she was just as human as the other characters so much more- what, then, could humans do that vestals hadn’t been told about?! It was exciting!

Brett parked the moving base, feeling hunger nibble at him. He slid his chair back, and stretched his arms above his head. Stars, he needed to move. He hadn’t moved from his seat for the past three hours… Shun laughed at his groan of pain as he stretched, “Stayed put for too long?”

“How could you guess?” Brett dryly responded with a laugh, getting up to get himself something to drink.

“Experience.” Shun sighed, face half pressed against the doorframe as a mock facepalm. Brett patted him on the head in sympathy as he sipped his drink, feeling much better for it.

_Guardia's words had been correct; Shun was not vestal, but human. He'd laughed when Brett connected his name to his identity, calling him legendary in the process. Explaining to the best of his ability, Shun informed Brett why he wasn't with Skyress. If Brett wasn't already willing to throw himself face first into the Resistance, then the reveal that Skyress had been captured by the Vexos, and that Shun's previous month in Alpha was in hopes of finding her, would've convinced him immediately._

_Brett could understand completely._

“Should we go wake up Ace? He went for a nap, and… Actually, are you two even working in shifts?” Shun asked, slipping his jacket on. Must've been cold.

“No idea.” Brett confirmed. Shun sighed, realising he’d have to take up the mantle of leader from Mira. Ace could easily do all the things that Mira could do as a vestal, that Shun couldn’t do, so that wasn’t _too_ bad.

“I just hope they get back soon,” Shun verbalised quietly, to which Brett nodded.

“If it weren’t for Spectra and Gus, we would’ve all gotten to Beta by now… I think.”

“Do you even know where Beta is?”

“Yeah,” Brett grinned, “Why?”

“No one else here does.” Shun sheepishly admitted. Brett’s face fell. He’d be relegated to pilot for the whole trip, wouldn’t he?

That was when a voice could be heard on the winds outside, as well as a door sliding open elsewhere in the base. The voice sounded like Dan. Sort of. Brett had no idea what Dan sounded like, now that he thought about it. “Was that Dan?”

“No. That wasn’t.” Shun responded, clicking his tongue, “The inflection’s off.”

“The inflection?" Brett snorted, "I think I get why some scholars like to think you have a crush on him…”

Shun laughed, and shook his head, “I’ve known him for ages, and my perception is, as Dan puts it, _creepily good_. I don’t think it’s creepy, although that just might be because I had to train myself for it…”

“It’s not creepy in this case,” Brett added, “since now we know that’s not Dan, thanks to.” Shun nodded with a faint smile, pleased. Ingram and Guardia floated up to their brawlers, landing on their preferred shoulders.

“I know I say this to Ace often, so it’ll probably sound weird, but you do make me think of Dan a little.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Ace and Dan are the same guy, but one is the quote unquote evil version,” Shun explained, “but, you and Dan find yourselves with the leader title often, huh? Guess you two share a vibe… And, for the record, you do strike me as an older Baron.”

Brett nodded, “Cool. Let me know when I pick something up from you, yeah?”

“Of course!” Shun jested, causing the two to burst into quiet giggles. For two people who only recently got to know each other, especially in Shun's case, they got along quickly, and were casual to each other much sooner than usual. 

“Ace?” Marucho called distantly. Shun’s ears pricked, and headed outside. He was probably doing something dumb again, probably for his ego. Shun stepped out of the base, directly into the forceful vacuum paths of some nearby portals. Holding his arms out in front of his eyes for protection, Shun kept watch, Brett following him outside. Marucho hadn't noticed them.

“I heard Mira on the other side!” Ace yelled back, coming as a whisper above the whistling vacuum. Ace turned, and leapt through the wormhole without warning. Brett blinked in surprise, and in his one blink, Marucho was gone. Based on Shun's grumbling, Marucho had apparently gone through the other portal.

“I don’t have any faith that Ace won’t get himself into trouble!” Brett yelled, “I don’t want to leave you on your own, since you won’t be able to go anywhere, but Ace is the kinda guy to get himself killed because he’s an idiot, so I’m gonna follow him to make sure he’ll stay alive!” Brett ran forwards at full sprint, Guardia in his vest pocket.

Shun’s eyes widened, not managing to get Brett to even wait before he’d thrown himself through. The words got caught in his throat.

The portals shut. The vacuum stopped whistling, and Shun finally realised how much he _detested_ pure silence.

* * *

Brett landed on the flora. Looking around, the flora was huge, maybe big enough for a bakugan to tuck behind their ears... The sky was bright blue, spotted with clouds. There was a lake, and seemingly a waterfall, although he couldn't make out how big it was. He couldn't make out how far away it was either.

It wasn't long before he spotted, or rather heard, Ace. He was uselessly calling out, with characteristic vigour, for Mira. Brett may have not been to Earth, but this was not it. This was Vestroia. He hoped down off of his huge sunflower, heading towards the blue moonflower Ace was precariously perched on. Ace turned around joyously, only for him to sour his reaction immediately upon realising that Brett was no Mira. Ace scowled. Brett kept his emotions to himself; he would've punched him otherwise. He deserved it.

"I can't find any sign of her." Ace grumbled, feeling the need to cover himself, "damned leader..."

Brett, while finding Ace's attempt to coverup how he felt about Mira to be a little stupid, it was obvious how much he cared, was inwardly relieved that Ace wasn't blaming him for Mira's apparent non-appearance, "I get the feeling that this is Vestroia, not Earth."

Ace looked at him for a moment, indecipherable, before he opened his mouth, "Well, that's your fault- if you hadn't jumped in, maybe I would be on Earth!"

Brett blinked, completely unimpressed. He knew Ace could, and would, grasp at whatever straws he could, but... _what?_ Did he even understand what he himself said?! Ace huffed, picking up on Brett's disappointment in him, and made his way down to the ground, followed closely. Ace took longer than he should have to even notice Mylene, stood on the opposite side of the lake. Brett, immediately aware of how screwed he'd be if he stuck around, bolted into the forest, running around to get to Mylene- if he can get behind her, he could probably knock her off her balance, and game, for long enough for Ace to win, and then--

Brett wondered if he even had any idea what he was doing. He could hear the battle go as he ran, occasionally falling to his knees as a few attacks had the ground quake while he was mid-step, his balance thrown to the wayside. His balance truly left him as the whole world around him flipped on its head. Screaming on instinct, Brett caught himself on a tree branch, holding on for dear life. Watching in horror, Brett noticed the lake's water falling into the skies below, scarcely seeing a dot floating along helplessly. Was that Ace? Did Ace get caught in the water fall?

Eventually, the world flipped back over, and Brett was getting dizzy. He climbed down from the tree with fleeting cautiousness, focusing on getting the hell out of dodge, given his gauntlet displaying Ace's life gauge as having dropped to zero. Ace lost the battle, and he hadn't done what he promised Shun he'd do. It's not like Ace would've been thankful about it, Brett realised bitterly, before something struck the back of his head.

Brett's consciousness was splotched with the ink of unconsciousness, black and covering his vision. He could vaguely make out the neon blue end of a static whip as he fell to his knees, Guardia anxiously meowing his name as he passed out.

Mylene huffed in frustration. Volt was going to get annoyed, the moment she'd tell him they needed an extra hydrostasis tank. But it would be worth it; crushing the Resistance was a delectable reward, even if it meant getting through Volt's general anger first. She grabbed Brett's right arm, and dragged him towards her aircraft. In the cargo hold, she tossed Brett inside, and shackled his hands together.

Looking at her handiwork, Mylene smiled. Two Resistance members out cold, both shackled and captured. It wouldn't be long before they'd be floating helplessly in the hydrostasis tanks under Beta. In Mylene's surge of pride, she realised something; she was more than deserving to treat herself... maybe with a nap.


End file.
